


Grandma

by bonespell



Series: Faronclan AU [5]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Faronclan Canon Divergence, Found Family, G, Guess who, aryll is in fact dead before the au starts, guess who had another angst idea, me!!, sorry lmao take it up with the creator not me, this and six hundred moons were written back to back so the vibe is similar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonespell/pseuds/bonespell
Summary: Wakepaw shoots to his feet. He’s shaking, but his voice is steady when he asks, “Grandma?”
Relationships: Wakepaw & Grandma, Wakepaw & Rushfang
Series: Faronclan AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852108
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	Grandma

**Author's Note:**

> so. wakepaw’s grandma is a hardy old lady and goes to find him and aryll after their vanishing a while ago. she finds both - sort of.
> 
> AU belongs to @Endofwave !!

Wakepaw is relaxed against Rushfang’s side. He’s trained hard today, and he’s definitely very tired. Rushfang doesn’t mind. In fact, he gently flattens down the fur on top of Wakepaw’s head in a way that, if he wanted to tease the deputy, Wakepaw would describe as _maternal_.

Wakepaw finishes off his mouse and is prepared to doze off when a voice he can only describe as _distant_ and _long gone_ and _familiar_ accompanies that of Harestep and Mousefeather. He picks his head up as they enter camp, another cat trailing behind.

This new cat is old and weary. She’s a gray she-cat who walks with a limp and who’s eyes are tired but hard and determined. She’s _familiar familiar familiar_ somebody Wakepaw doesn’t recognise.

“Please,” She says. “You are the clan of cats, correct? I need help. Please, help me find my grandkits. Their names are Wind and Aryll. They’re both beautiful, with sandy fur and blue eyes… please help me. I’ll find a way to pay you back. I need help.”

“Wakepaw,” Rushfang murmurs to him, voice low intentionally. “Wasn’t your name Wind, when we found you?”

Wakepaw doesn’t respond. _Wind Aryll Grandkits Aryll Sister Wind Grandkits Grandma Grandma Grandma-_

Wakepaw shoots to his feet. He’s shaking, but his voice is steady when he asks, “Grandma?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Wakepaw, please come down,” Kitewing says carefully. Everyone knows Kitewing could get up the tree if he wanted to. He’s a fast climber. However, Wakepaw is grateful that he doesn’t try that. That he gives him the option.

“I can’t,” Wakepaw says, voice shaking. All of him is shaking, and it’s far more forceful than it was at camp.

“Will you let me come up, then?” Kitewing asks in that ever-gentle tone of his. Wakepaw does little more than make an affirmative sound, but Kitewing takes the hint and curls up on Wakepaw’s branch next to him. Wakepaw leans into him. Kitewing places his chin on his head.

“She’s your grandmother, Wakepaw. She’s come so very far to see you. I know family can be… hard. But please talk to her. You never know how much time you have left.”

“It’s not that,” Wakepaw mumbles. “Not her. She’s wonderful and she deserves so much better than me.”

“What do you mean?”

“She was asking for Aryll. Aryll is… was my little sister.”

“I’m sorry,” Kitewing says, and it’s so sincere. Wakepaw squeezes his eyes shut. He takes a deep breath and he tells Kitewing everything.

Kitewing doesn’t judge.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Kitewing and him walk back to camp some time later. Rushfang is pacing outside. Thicketstar is trying to talk him down, and then Rushfang spots him.

Rushfang barrels forwards, skidding to a stop directly before Wakepaw and pressing their foreheads together.

“Please don’t do that to me again,” He breathes, and Wakepaw is shocked. He thought Rushfang would be furious at him, would reprimand him the moment he came back.

“Wakepaw, I thought something had gotten you. I thought I’d never see you again and it was all because I couldn’t stop you. Starclan, I’m supposed to be better than this…” 

“No,” Wakepaw insists. “I ran. Please don’t blame yourself. It was me.”

“What if we decided to split the blame?” Rushfang asks. His tone, despite being choked up still, is amused. Wakepaw nods, and Rushfang rubs their foreheads together one last time before stepping back.

Wakepaw takes a deep breath and re-enters camp, his family at his side.

Willowthorn and Rabbitwhisker let him use the medicine den in privacy to talk to Grandma. Smokepaw briefly touches their tails as a show of support. Grandma sits across from him. She’s waiting patiently, and her eyes are nothing but kind.

He doesn’t deserve it.

“I left to find Aryll,” He starts. “I… never did. I nearly died out there trying to find her, and when I was on the brink, Rushfang - the cat with the blue fabric - found me. He took me in. I’ve been training as a clan member ever since. I…”

Grandma just gives him the same patient look she always has, before smiling. “You’ve become a lovely young man. I’m proud.”

Wakepaw can’t take it. He was preparing for her anger, for her rage, but she doesn’t seem to have any for him. He doesn’t feel like he deserves her pity. Her forgiveness.

“Grandma, don’t you understand? Aryll is gone and I did this. It’s my fault… I…”

“No, honey. Wind. It’s the fault of that horrible hawk that carried her off. Maybe a little my fault too for not warning her quickly enough. But you did nothing wrong. You went above and beyond to try and save her, and you’ve become a stronger young man because of it.”

“Wakepaw,” He mumbles, and she perks up. 

“Hmm?”

“My clan name. Wakepaw. I… couldn’t live with Wind anymore. I had to run away.”

“I like it, Wakepaw,” Grandma says. “It suits you.”

Wakepaw charges forward, pressing into her soft fur. She smells just as he remembers her to.

  
  
  
  
  
  


He introduces Grandma to the whole clan. She takes a liking to all of them. Grandma is starting to become a regular, and she even helps around camp sometimes. Wakepaw wonders how long she intends to stay. He knows he can’t go back with her. Maybe moons ago, he could have. But this is his family now, just as much as she is.

She’s the one who brings it up.

“Wakepaw, what would you like me to do? I understand you tried to forget your old life once you came here” She says one night, as he’s tending to the elders. She’s taken to sleeping in their den.

When Wakepaw’s silence drags on, she continues. “I know you don’t want to leave. If you’d like me to leave, well, I’m satisfied in knowing you’re alive and happy. I can return by morning.”

“No,” Wakepaw blurts. “Grandma, I want you to stay. You don’t have to change your name or anything. Please, just stay with me.”

“Of course, my dear,” She smiles, soft. “I’d love to stay. Life here is so wonderful. Such a sense of community.

Wakepaw, during this conversation, brings up his final idea.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Wakepaw and Grandma sit in the center of camp, long after everyone else has retired to bed. In the middle of camp, there is a lone white feather. It’s all they have left of Aryll - a feather she’d found and loved so much. Grandma had brought it with her. In the morning, they would bury it. But for now, they were holding a clan-customary silent vigil- for Faronclan, the first of its kind.

Besides clearing the idea with Thicketstar, nobody else had been told. However, the clan is smart, and they can read Wakepaw well. Rushfang, right before moonhigh, sits next to him. 

One by one, more cats start exiting their den to join the circle. Even the elders, and Hazelfoot, who isn’t very active now that she’s a queen, come and sit outside.

At moonhigh, Starclan stares down at their legacy, mourning a kit they had never even known.

When the sun rises, Wakepaw takes the feather, and the clan follows him past the burial site and into the river. He puts the feather down, and watches it spin down the flowing water. He watches until he can’t see anymore, and then bows his head and his body. He watches as the clan follows him.

Maybe he can live with the memories, Wakepaw considers. Maybe now that he’s let her rest properly, he can be free from his guilt and his pain.

Wakepaw knows he’ll never forget, but maybe it’s time to finally let himself move on.


End file.
